Family
by Alex Warlorn
Summary: The Pink Sniper, Monica, is given a chance to redeem herself for her failure to kill the Dirty Pair, kill Kai's foster child Kaigrodo.
1. Message

Monica De Noir moped in her prison cell. Where she had been for the past six months. She kept going over it again and again in her mind. How could she of failed? She was a De Noir! A De Noir never failed in a kill! Yet, she had. She was fourteen! She should have been able to handle of couple of easy targets like the Dirty Pair!   
But they had beaten her like she was nothing. Nothing! At the end they were more annoyed with her attempts of killing them than anything! Dammit! It wasn't supposed to be this way! It was supposed to be like in the practice runs! Where she had killed them without trouble!   
She hadn't heard a word from her family the entire time she had been in here. With her one phone call she tried her mother, nothing hurt worse than what her mother had done then. Before the Pink Sniper could so much as get two words out, she had hung up on her, hung up . . . she had hung up on her own daughter! It was as if she wasn't worth talking to as if . . . there was no 'as if', she wasn't worth talking to, she was a failure, the first De Noir EVER to fail in a kill. This had to be a nightmare. But the juvenile detention uniform she was wearing felt far too real to be a dream.   
Monica didn't expect to have a visitor that day or any day. No one came to see her. She wasn't worth seeing. She was a failure: unworthy of anyone presence.   
Monica didn't recognize the man in the business suit who sat on the out side of the glass; he merely slipped something to her under the small slit under the clear barrier, and walked away. Monica hide the piece of paper on her and went back to her cell.   
When she was sure no one was looking she took it out and gazed at it.   
It was a photograph, of an eighteen-month-old child from the looks of it. She recognized him from the news, the bastard child of a billionaire who should have been dead if the assassins had just done their jobs. Instead, they had let Kai of the Dirty Pair beat them, and the brat had survived. But the mark of course, was still active, but the child was in police protection at the moment. Or more precisely, for the last few months under Kai's care.   
Monica saw the writing on the bottom of the photo. It was a short message, but it's meaning was clear enough. 

LAST CHANCE 

To be continued? . . . . 

Flames, comments, reactions, suggestions, corrections, reviews good or bad, all welcome.   



	2. Escape

Monica De Noir knew they wouldn't bother giving her a way out. If she couldn't break out of juvenile hall on her own. She wasn't worthy of a second chance.  
  
As far back as Monica could remember, she had been taught the De Noirs were perfect. And thus, by proving she was imperfect with her defeat. She was no longer to be considered a De Noir. She thought about the prison routine. Thought about any glitches that might help her escape. Nothing came.  
  
Monica began to wonder if she really was nothing, if she truly had no skill except for her 'toys'. No! She WAS a De Noir! She did have skill! She was the best! And she wasn't going to let some fluke stop her from proving it to the underworld!  
  
However confidence doesn't break down walls. She still needed a way out. These guards were not particularly stupid, they knew what kinds of kids they had on their hands. So playing to these brutes' sympathies was out of the question. Unless . . . there was always some newbie being brought in who didn't know what they were getting themselves into! If only she could manage to get one close to her. Then she could steal their card key to get out of her cell, but what then? It wasn't like she could just walk out of here. Wait a minute! Maybe she could! And she owed it all to the politicians who claimed that kids weren't smart enough to put together an escape plan AND that DNA markings on prison ID cards was too expensive!  
  
Jenni couldn't believe it, after six months in this hellhole she was being let out. Not that her family cared. They never did. But she was determined to not make the same mistakes twice. Her therapy had worked and she had kicked her drug habit. She was ready for a fresh start. A new beginning! She was going to show the world that she COULD pull her life together! A sickeningly fast blow to the back of her head. And darkness.  
  
Monica had, of course, chosen her target very carefully. She didn't want someone with family who would be there to greet her at her release. Then it was just a matter of acquiring her target. Replacing Jenni's ID picture with her own. (thank you again, penny pinching politicians for lack lamination) And putting on Jenni's name-tag. The staff there had long ago last any passion for their work, and didn't even notice the radical difference between Monica and Jenni. It was all just too easy! She had gone through paper processing without a hitch and just walked out.  
  
Heh, they should be finding Jenni in a few more hours: plenty of time for her to get lost. Then, it was smooth sailing. Perhaps she had relied too much on her gadgets, but she still had her wits, and those would be more than enough to slaughter one toddler. And then her family would welcome her back with open arms. She knew it.  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome.  
  
Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too.  
  
Please don't just write 'MORE!' those reviews leave me empty inside.  
  
Anyone know the Dirty pair's last names? 


	3. Preparing

Yui Hino didn't know which was more incredible. That Kei Misaki had managed to convince their superiors to let Kei be 'Keitarro's' caretaker. Or the fact Kei had managed to pull it off without losing her mind. Yui knew neither of the Lovely Angels were known for good house keeping. And she was sure Kei would be eating her own words before the day was out when she had said she could handle taking care of one infant. Yui had heard those brave words from other friends of hers who had become single mothers. Yui now visited most of them in the mental asylum. The change that had come over Kei was almost as astounding. Her appearance hadn't changed, but her behavior had ever so slightly altered. It wasn't like Kei had become a completely different person, -though did at first consider having her blood tested to see if she had been replaced by a alien clone- but she was, ugh, the two words being in the same sentence had to be a sign of the coming of the end of the world, but, Kei was acting more, feminine! It made Yui dizzy just thinking about it! She had spotted Kei in a dress! And the craziest thing was that Kei didn't make it out to be anything!  
  
Maybe the stress of taking care of Keitarro HAD driven Kei insane and these were all signs of her mental break down! Yui shook her head. It wasn't like Kei had any experience taking care of babies. Then again, all mothers had to start out somewhere. Wait a second! Mother?! She just put Kei and 'mother' in the same context?!! Was Yui losing her mind now too?!!! Yui breathed in deep. And slowly let it out like the first page of all her tabletop self-help book said to do when dealing with an extremely stressful situation.  
  
Okay. Fact. Kei was handling her job and Keitarro with no signs of it driving her to jumping out a top story window. Second Fact. Keitarro was perfectly healthy and active when Yui last saw him. Third Fact: Kei still shot straight and hadn't lost any of her focus on missions. Question: so what was Yui worried about? Maybe the change in Kei's character just caught her off guard. Or maybe the way the change in her character had gone. Yui had been sure Kei was going to choke on this like a chicken bone making her all the more irritable. Instead she seemed just a little bit more . . . pleasant to be around. Yui knew Keitarro was cute, like any baby, but she knew the reality that hid behind that innocent face: sleepless night, dirty diapers, endless crying. How the hell did Kei do it? Did she have a baby sitter that Yui didn't know about?  
  
"Hey! Earth to Yui! Please respond!"  
  
"Huh, uh, what?" Kei had totally sneaked up on her. Not that she did it on purpose. Yui had been a solar system away with her thoughts. Kei was in her Lovely Angels uniform like Yui.  
  
"You on something? You were someplace else!"  
  
"Just thinking."  
  
Kei spoke under her breath. "First time for everything."  
  
Yui surprisingly didn't give a retort. "So what's the order of the day? Are we filling out more apology letters for the last batch of destroyed public property? Or do we just drag ourselves to the boss' office and find out what random SOB we're bringing in kicking and screaming for the police?"  
  
"Actually I think we're on stand-by."  
  
"So they still don't trust us after we blew up half of headquarters to destroy that terrorist mecha armor?"  
  
" Nope."  
  
"Figured. No, really I did."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
If Monica had proven anything the last twelve hours, it was that she wasn't as helpless without her giant robot bear as her fight with the Dirty Pair would make one think. She had entered the bad part of town, clearly a stupid action, until she walked out with the wad of cash she had looted off the bodies of the rap gang that had attacked her. Monica wondered if they were still squirming like worms on a hook, that lighting fast jab to the Adam's apple she had given them with a discarded pipe could leave the victim chocking for several minutes depending on their stamina.  
  
Phase Two completed: Get money from somewhere no one would miss it. Monica's mind was already at work on how to acquire the mark. Several ideas came to mind: sniper-rifle, explosives, poison. She had to dismiss them. Those kinds of finical exchanges were always watched, and she was sure the detention center had to be missing her by now. A fugitive couldn't exactly walk into a gun store and ask for an Uzi, much less a teenage girl. Best go with methods as old as the pyramids.  
  
She had told the store owner she was getting something to prepare livestock for her family. He presented what he considered the best item for the job and she took it with a polite 'thank you.'  
  
As the pink sniper scrolled through the phone service database from a public terminal for Kei Misaki's address she looked at her reflection in the blade of the killing knife: a reflection that very soon she would be able to look at with pride once again. Mother would be proud of her.  
  
__________________  
  
Flames, comments, reactions, suggestion (VERY welcome), rants, reviews good or bad, compliments, insults, critical and constructive criticism all welcome. Oh yea, please, don't just say 'MORE!' those reviews just leave me kinda empty. If you have an axe to grind with a review of mine E-MAIL me! I leave it public for a reason. 


	4. Summary of What Would Have Been

Hello to any who may read this. What follows is a summary of events that would have transpired had I chosen to continue this fanfiction. However, I've decided that I need to move on with my life and that I really don't have the TIME for fanfictions so much anymore. But I do feel that those who have read the story up until this point do deserve answers of what would have occurred. For that reason, please continue if you chose to:

Kei and Yuri were lucky they were so good at their job, otherwise Yuri was sure they would have been thrown out on their rears by now due to the collateral damage that followed them around like a curse. While Kei complained about it to no end ( and everyone around her knew she hated it) but the mountains of apology letters they had to sign were ultimately just a slap on the wrist compared to the mass destruction that spontaneous occurred every time the pair tried to arrest so much as a no face ATM cracker. Kei of coursed complained how half the time it wasn't even their fault, but 3WA needed some decent scapegoats for debacles like this and the 'Dirty Pair' fit perfectly... and Yui in a quiet voice would point that half the time it WAS their fault...

'I wonder how come Kei's never objected to her Lovely Angel uniform?' Yuri wondered, 'I mean, I don't mind mine, I don't mind showing off my figure. But Kei has never been one to take anything she considers demeaning lightly, and I know she HATED those stupidly skimpy swim suits we had to wear for that crazy undercover mission that one time...'

The story would have also would have tried to bridge the two Dirty Pair series by implying that the real reason Kei and Yuri were given the lovely angel code name and paired together was due to a system idiosyncrasy since their personality profiles and NAMES matched those of the original 'Dirty Pair' and 'Iris' and 'Molly' were not the original names of the pair in an attempt to hook the two series together more.

Kei and Yuri would be given the heads up on 'Sweet Fairy's' escape, and Kei would brush this off, having learned enough to consider Monica to be only a 'dangerous annoyance.' However the chief would also warn the girls of a seemingly 'unrelated' of a new assassin according to 3WA's intelligence being hired to target Keitaro, and the chief figures that Monica might have been contracted due to her experience with the Dirty Pair. "Lovely Angels!" Kei retorts, "Yeah right, experience in losing." All the same, Kei more than readily agrees that they should increase protection around Keitaro until the new killer is identity and removed. This new assassin is suggested to be because Keitaro's 'wicked step mother' or similar relative or business partner of his father is slowly being closed in as far as proof goes and this being a reckless attempt brought on by fear or panic.

Monica is reported using a fake ID to buy a rifle and sniper scope, it's a sloppy job, the chief feels it's too sloppy and Yuri has a gut feeling that something is wrong with the whole scenario but Kei is more interesting in find and breaking Monica's newest toy and giving the brat a big long spanking!

During Monica's planning stage, he initially planned on trying to apply to be Keitaro's new baby sitter. But Kei isn't stupid enough to hire a baby sitter she's never seen before. In particular since her foster child was still technically marked for death. Thus Monica scraps this idea.

Unsure of when and where Monica will strike, but now certain by the majority to be a sniper attack, the precious few 3WA choses to spare for this (and few it be) stationed around Kei's apartment see Monica entering a nearby building -through the front door- with a long package. The other 3WA agents enter (including Yuri) but find that Monica had double backed on them and has ditched the Sniper Rifle which is not even loaded.

Monica breaks into Kei's apartment but after a short hunt for Keitaro (who may or may not even be there) Kei blasts Monica's slaughter knife right out of her hand, the shrapnel from the destroyed weapon leaving cuts in Monica's bleeding hand.

"I can head shot a aircraft pilot from the ground Monica, did you really think I wouldn't be accurate at close range too?"

Monica rants and raves how she's still the best and she WILL kill Kei and her foster son one way or the other. Kei begins to suspect there is something seriously wrong with Monica as her words and body language become increasingly chaotic.

Before Kei can subdue Monica however, ANOTHER assassin arrives on the scene, throwing things into complete chaos! Yuri and her team are two far away, and this hired killer proves infinitely more experienced than Monica and easily breaks Kei's arm. Monica wildly and savagely attacks the new arrival, screaming that this kill is hers.

Monica is shot through the gut and hits the walls behind her bleeding. Monica burns out her breath still saying how this was meant to be her kill. Instead of putting another bullet in her, this one in her head, the assassin instead tell her the truth:

Monica was intended right from the start to be nothing more than a smoke screen and a distraction, and it wasn't even really her family who contacted her! This explains to Monica at least why the assassin didn't just shoot her in the head like her relatives would have (the RIGHT way to shoot someone).

Monica suffers a nervous break down, ranting how of course it wouldn't be her family, since her family wouldn't have shot her, her family cares for her, her family would never abandon her, and other self assuring words.

However, this melodrama proves to be the assassin's undoing as it made him take his eyes off Kei, which proved to be a fatal mistake as she kills him with a head blow or head shot from behind. This is made easier due to a surprise distraction from Yuri's cat Mughi.

Monica is rushed to emergency and due to the miracles of twenty third century medicine is saved. However the stress of events have broken Monica from the inside out, and she is declared too insane to stand trial and sentenced to a mental ward instead.

A post investigation reveals Monica's kills previously in story weren't kills, Jenni was recovered from the dumpster Monica dumped her in before she could be incinerated, and the thugs (sadly depending on who you ask) had a cell was able to dial 911, but were managed to get themselves arrested in the process.

Kei, realizing that there is nothing left inside of Monica now but a lonely and confused child eventually chooses to regularly visit Monica. As the girl recovers her damaged mind staples Kei as a mother figure, and ultimately blots out the majority of her life, becoming repressed memories that would need to be dealt with ultimately. Monica reconstructs her personality almost from the ground up, much to Kei's weariness. When it's decided by those in the hired killer ring that Monica might have use as a sleeper killer due to her damaged psychology, they attempt to retrieve her, leading to Kei protecting her in a twist of fate (with the memory repressed Monica with no idea why someone would want to 'kidnap' her).

Monica recovers her memories eventually, but at this point has built a new life for herself and chooses to continue living it. Much to the relief of her foster mother and brother...

Cast of Characters:

Kei Misaki

Yuri Hino

Monica (15) "Sweet Fairy"

De Noirs

Keitaro

Mughi (black cat)

Jenni

thugs

Reviewer:

hentaijack

DJ Flipstar X

ROGUE GHOST

Trevor belmont

Meat

DanteDNC2002

kazuya8

red ninja4

PhoenixStarwind

Filipino_Sniper

MegalomaniacUrashima

Mokona_lapuupuu

Nukem999

Zechs Merquise

Chris

BGB

Obiki Doragon

Alpha

Madame_Belldandy

SHAWN PROVONCHA

~ Fin

Return 0 ;

Aeon, "I accept this key, eight locks remain."

THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING!


	5. Original Jaundice Summary

After Monica makes her run at Keigarodo, and the dirty pair barely manage this time to beat her, Monica is very quick to learn she was only a distraction for a REAL hit man. Totally disillusioned with her family, she nearly goes catatonic, and the assassins (other members of her family) don't hesitate to fire if they get in their way. But they again underestimate Kei and Yui, and they fall. Monica, with nowhere left to go, tries to commit suicide, but Kei stops her. We learn the thugs Monica crippled are still alive, as is the lass whose identity she tried to steal. Monica says she is an absolute failure as a killer. Yui says that's a good thing.

In a strange twist, Kei decides to bring Monica into her family as well 'protective custody after all, and who knows these assassins better than Monica?' Heh.

Family? 'Someone whose cares about you with all their heart.'


End file.
